Top 10 Arizona news stories of 2015

PHOENIX — For three weeks in August and September, drivers across the Phoenix metropolitan area were rattled by a string of shootings that hit cars along freeways.

It started with four cars being struck during the weekend of Aug. 29-30 along Interstate 10, and quickly became a major national story. Authorities hunted for a suspect, doing everything from ballistics investigations to posting freeway billboards seeking the public's help in finding a culprit.

More cars were hit in the ensuing weeks, including some attacks that were apparently the work of a copycat with a BB or pellet gun. Panicked drivers whose cars were struck with innocuous things like road debris called authorities, fearing they had been targeted.

On Sept. 18, Arizona Department of Public Safety detectives and a SWAT team arrested 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. at a Glendale Wal-Mart. Merritt quickly declared his innocence, saying detectives got "the wrong guy."

The freeway shootings were the top story in Arizona in 2015, headlining a list that included connections to terrorism, a fight over education spending, prison riots and the nation's biggest sporting event being held in the state.

Gov. Doug Ducey tweeted "We got him!" just minutes after Merritt was arrested, but the case is far from over. Merritt's lawyers are mounting a vigorous defense that they claim will show Merritt has an alibi placing him at a different location at the time of the shootings. His lawyers also are quick to point out that Merritt has only been charged in four of the shootings, raising questions about who was responsible for hitting other cars. One person suffered minor injuries in the shootings.

Islamic State's murderous onslaught in 2015 had multiple connections to Arizona. Kayla Mueller, an aid worker from Prescott, was kidnapped in Syria in 2013, held hostage by Islamic State militants and killed in February. Her death put another human face on the toll of the violence brought on by Islamic State.

Three months later, Arizona ended up at the center of another terrorism investigation. Two Phoenix men drove to Texas and opened fire outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest before being shot to death. Investigators say Elton Simpson, Nadir Soofi and another Arizona man had researched traveling to the Middle East to fight alongside Islamic State. The third man has since been charged with conspiring to support the terrorist group.

The Texas attack had similarities with other violence in 2015. The shooters had become radicalized, expressed admiration for Islamic State online and equipped themselves with body armor and semiautomatic rifles with the goal of carrying out mass casualties.

The entire world was watching Arizona on Feb. 1 when the New England Patriots squared off against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl in Glendale. Downtown Phoenix was transformed into a Super Bowl village, A-list celebrities flocked to Scottsdale for parties, and the game ended with a thrilling finish in which the Patriots won 28-24.

Education returned as a hot-button political issue in 2015. The source of the fight was a lawsuit brought by schools after lawmakers slashed K-12 funding during the recession by eliminating voter-mandated spending increases tied to inflation. The case wound its way through the courts for years, and it was ultimately resolved after a special legislative session in October. The deal involves spending $3.5 billion on K-12 education over the next decade. The plan requires the approval of voters, who will decide it in a May election.

The longtime Maricopa County sheriff had what may have been the roughest year of his career. He was called into federal court on contempt-of-court charges while a series of damaging revelations surfaced about his office, including his acknowledged defiance of court orders in a racial profiling case and an allegation that he launched a secret investigation of the case's judge in a bid to discredit him. The judge is mulling whether to find Arpaio in civil contempt, impose fines and broaden a court-ordered overhaul of his office. If such a finding is made, the judge will then decide whether to recommend a possible criminal contempt case that could expose him to fines and even jail time.

A violent flash flood tore through the polygamous towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, in September, sweeping away a van and SUV carrying three women and 13 children. Only three of the occupants survived as the vehicles were engulfed by floodwaters and carried down an embankment. The tragedy brought new attention to towns that have long been targeted by law enforcement over their long polygamy history.

The governor called it "frightening and disturbing." Rioting and unrest broke out at a privately run prison in Kingman in July, causing nine guards to be injured and forcing authorities to move 1,100 inmates to other facilities. The state later severed ties with the operator of the facility, which was the site of a notorious breakout in 2010.

Arizona found itself in the middle of another high-profile U.S. Supreme Court ruling with national implications in 2015. The court upheld how the state draws its congressional boundaries, ruling in favor of Arizona's independent redistricting commission. A separate case over the state's legislative maps is now before the high court.

Ducey signed a $9.1 billion budget in March that Republicans said was a fiscally responsible act that put the state on more solid financial footing without raising taxes. The budget was not without controversy, though. Ducey and Republicans pushed the budget through the Legislature in a middle-of-the-night debate that opponents said prevented transparency. And opponents decried cuts to higher education and the safety net along with its shifting of financial burdens onto cities, counties and school districts.

One week after a gunman killed nine people at a community college in Oregon in October, Northern Arizona became the site of a deadly school shooting. The Flagstaff violence started with a fight between fraternity members and ended with one student killed and three wounded. The suspect, Steve Jones, says he was acting in self-defense.